San Francisco, March 2369

"The Justice is here to see you." He nodded a sign that he would accept the visitor. He had barely spoken a sentence since he arrived 3 days earlier. The guards were put on notice to give him privacy; it wasn't every day they had a fallen legend sitting in one of these cells. He was a special case, the youngest commanding officer of his generation, the latest remarkable officer in the fleet's most prestigious line of officers.

He sat there with his knees pulled up to his chest, looking young and vulnerable, not the confident and accomplished pilot he was. Derrick stood at the door of the cell, biting back tears as he looked at his grandson. The memories of the Zepplein quickly came flooding back. "I'll see what I can do about getting you out of here." He sighed. "Have you talked to your father yet?"

"The Admiral doesn't want anything to do with me." Tom looked up with hurtful eyes. "He called me a disgrace. It's like I'm not ever allowed to make even the tiniest mistake in his eyes."

"I'll talk to him but as stubborn as he is I don't really think I'll get anywhere." The Judge sighed. "Your mother will probably be a little more understanding. Worse comes to worse, you'll stay with me as long as you need to. They can't hold you forever. From the judicial perspective their claims are hogwash."

"Thanks, Pops." The Commander paused as he looked at the old man. "I'm probably the biggest screw up of an officer you've ever seen. Come on, I mean I shouldn't have even started pulling the logs. I just couldn't let it go down the way it was going to go down."

"Trust me you're not Tom." He turned to leave his grandson's cell. "Intelligence is desperate for operatives and they answer to me. You will by all means keep your rank."

"Mac has no clue does she?" Tom took in the news, there were always the rumors about who headed Intelligence. His grandfather's name never even came into conversation. "That is something she would've been using to her advantage all along."

"Not a clue at all. Aunt Katie still marvels over the fact that I've kept it all these years." The Judge paused. "Trust me she's not the only one in the family with secrets. We'll cut a back room deal as I did with her. You're career is perfectly safe."

San Francisco, June 2369

"I'll take full responsibility." He stood up and faced the panel. "I knew that there were defaults in the engines before I sent them out on the test flight."

"Why'd you send them on the flight then Commander?" The Vulcan on the panel stared him down with hard eyes. "The test wasn't necessary."

"I had nothing but success the last 2 years, I figured the risk would be worth it." Tom sighed. "Yes, I was cocky, but I wanted to go out bigger than I was already going out. I'm willing to take whatever punishment the panel sees reasonable."

"Your rank sir." The Junior Officer on the panel spoke. "You cost 3 officers their lives, we think that's appropriate." Tom nodded and accepted his fate he was kissing away a career that would've trumped James Kirk's.

San Francisco, July 2369

"Admiral, I have my transfer orders if you would like to see them." Todd stood nervously at the doorway of Admiral Brian Rosen's office. "I want to thank you for giving me the chance."

The academic stood up from his desk. "I personally requested that you be transferred in as my assistant. You're background is exactly what I need. Plus we need to get you properly trained."

"Properly trained?" Todd looked at him with a petrifying glance. "What do you mean? You just said my background was exactly what you need."

"It is, but there's a certain way we practice intelligence medicine." Brian hit the door to open up his secured lab. "Though saving Tom's ass for the last 4 years counts as part of the training. You do understand that you will still be reporting to him?"

"Yes. Your wife briefed me on all of that when she did my file review last week." The younger doctor sighed. "Will I get to see the rest of them anytime soon?"

"Not physically. They're all so far under that you would barely recognize them." Brian sighed. "You do understand that in secure communications you will always use Butler and nothing else."

"Fully sir." Todd smiled. "How soon until I'm out in the field again?"

"Nine months from now we'll be transferring you to Deep Space 4 where you'll serve as the base CMO." The Admiral smoothed out a wrinkle in his uniform. "It'll allow you to have access to what you need, plus it'll be an easy pull to get things done."

London, October 2369

"It's up to you." The judge leaned back in his chair. "I doubt Owen has said much about you."

"How do you think he'll react?" Harlot sipped her cider. "It also makes the difference if he's going to be under my command or not. I'm not expecting him to accept me as his mother instantly."

"He sees Julia as his mother. You won't all of a sudden be suffering from parental anxiety." The judge smiled at her. "I don't even want to imagine how he would've turned out if you raised him."

"Let's see how he reacts around me first." Harlot swapped the cross in her legs. "He's not stupid, he'll make the connection from a year ago. Granted the act isn't the easiest to pull anymore."

"Right." The judge laughed at his subordinate. "Like you don't live for going into a bar and playing a seductive flirt, tell me the truth that's how you got my son wasn't it?"

"No, I played sweet and innocent flirt when I was on the Clark." She chuckled. "I wasn't full covert at that time; the seductress has been enhanced over time." Harlot smiled at the young man who stood in the doorway. "Have a seat Captain." She gestured to the empty chair at the table.

"Tom, you've met Harlot before." Derrick nodded at his grandson. "She is my premier operative when it comes to Federation intelligence. She is the goal of what you want to achieve. Harlot is Section 31." He made the declaration identifying her for what would not exist without her.

"You were the woman in the bar, the night we had the first success on the trans warp drive." Tom recognized the face. "Something told me you were more than a freighter navigator looking for work. Morch, isn't dead is she?"

"No." Harlot paused. "Obviously I'm not at liberty to say where she is Tom. I owe you some other explanations also. I served on the Clark with your father before I went fully covert."

"Which explains why there's no record of Matilda Sloan whatsoever in any Starfleet database." Tom sighed. "The Admiral has not a single clue to the fact that you're alive does he."

"No." Harlot paused. "For all intensive purposes Matilda Sloan has been dead since you were 5 months old. It killed me not to watch you grow-up, but I went under for the greater good."

The Outer Banks, January 2370

"This is more about you being a concerned grandfather Pops." Maura Paris plopped up onto the kitchen counter. "You have this devious little look on your face, I promise, promise, and promise some more that I will never pull a Tom. Putting Mom and Dad through that stress again would probably kill them."

"Just concentrate on passing the boards first Kiddo." The judge looked at his granddaughter. "And there is no such thing as pulling a Tom. You are to respect your brother as the Captain he is."

"Or could've been." The recently minted ships counselor glared at her grandfather. "You being Mr. Cynical should know better than to be in denial about the chosen one's fall from grace."

The Captain walked into the kitchen and stared down his little sister. "I didn't fall from grace Maura. Mom and Dad, just think I did. How either of them ever made Admiral still baffles me. You're being assigned secondary orders Lieutenant."

"We need your skills Maura." The judge looked at his baffled granddaughter. "Intelligence is lacking any gifted tactical psychologists, and you are on the way to being the premier of your generation. I need someone that can be hidden in plain sight but evaluate my operatives when needed. Your brother needs someone in his unit that he can unconditionally trust in all circumstances."

"So it's not a myth then. I thought Tom being thrown out so quickly was a little too suspicious." She tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ears. "All the rumors are true; there are plain clothes operatives in every aspect of fleet life. How much additional training am I going to need?"

"Just this briefing." Tom handed his sister the padd. "You're going to crash out at the beach house for a week because you're petrified of the boards and Erika has been a pain and distracting you while you're attempting to study at Mom and Dad's. Pops was worried that you were freaking out and knowing how stressful any board exam could be he thought it would be best."

Derrick interrupted his grandson. "Your brother and Brian will have you trained within those six days. We've set your board exams so you will by no means have any difficulty in achieving a stellar score—which is exactly what your mother expects."

"Okay. Who exactly am I going to be dealing with on a regular basis here?" She arched her back up. "Do I at least get that information?"

"Todd's my right arm; you're going to become my left sis." He sighed. "I need you two as medical officers to evaluate exactly what is going on."

London, May 2370

"Sit." Derrick barely looked up from his pads as his grandson walked in. "I have an assignment for you. We're in desperate need to get the information; you're still fairly public we need you for it."

"Maquis related I assume." The protégé paused. "How long will it take, and how much prep work do I need to do ahead of time?"

"Long enough to pay off the tab you owe Sandrine." The Justice slid the pad over to Tom. "We liberally adjusted up the amount; you just have to do a few more weeks to get to the amount that needs to be paid off. I'm just thankful your grandmother taught you how to fly just about anything."

"I assume I will have no contact with any of you as long as I'm under." He evaluated the situation. "When I get caught?"

"You'll run your unit from a Penal colony." Derrick shrugged his shoulders. "We've done it before without any problems. An operative with your skill and ability can operate from anywhere. Plus it's time you learn to depend more on your sister and Todd."

The Badlands, August 2370

"I have to say that I'm impressed with the way you run things." The Cardassian agent had put a transmission block into the alcove in which the three talked. "I only wish our people could get our act together in that way."

"It's pure talent on our part. We have people where you would never know people could exist." Tom smiled cockily. "It's worked for 200 years, they're not about to start changing it."

"Plus he's the best at what he does." Ayala quietly added in. "We know how to infiltrate and stay infiltrated as long as necessary. The fact that most people are fully gulliable to the way Intelligence agencies work is just a plus."

"The fact that Starfleet had Chakotay teaching advanced tactical training procedures highlights that." Seska led out a quiet crackle. "Now you'll give my people a full report after you fly tomorrow."

"Of course. Then I'm hoping to have you both out within the next few months." Tom sighed. "Or at least that's the goal, I need Mike to handle other projects, unfortunately he's been in for too long to just randomly disappear."

Auckland, October 2371

"You'll be getting sprung in the next couple of days." Maura had beamed in for the bimonthly visit with her brother. "There is a Starfleet lieutenant on board Chakotay's ship; he is not one of ours. His commanding officer will be coming and requesting your services."

"I assume we'll be taking the Maquis into custody." Tom looked at her. "How are you handling it?"

"The Cardassians want her out, and we need Mike ASAP." She shook a loose hair away from her face. "Todd and I are both going to be bored out of our minds at a two week long medical conference. We'll readily welcome the distraction."

"Who's Ship?" He leaned back in his chair. "The usual faking?"

"Yes on their agent, Mike we'll figure something out." The lieutenant commander fixed her hair. The New Zealand humidity was doing nothing for it. "It's Voyager under the command of Kathryn Janeway. She's one of Dad's protégé's so you know exactly what she'll be like."

"Clueless. Or might I actually be surprised?" The look on her face told him exactly what to expect. "I'm assuming we'll be leaving from DS9?"

"Scott Fitzgerald is the ship's CMO; he'll do the medical stasis. Expect the cold shoulder and him spreading wild rumors about your demise. When you get to a certain point, we'll take the secure out and reverse stasis." Maura paused. "It's Meni Tuker's son he penetrated for S.I. He does not know we exist, and obviously has no clue how penetrated we are."

"Okay, that changes somethings." The older brother looked worriedly at his younger sister. "I'm assuming I'll be offered parole in exchange for my cooperation in terms of bringing them in."

"Of course. Isn't that the way it always works?" The cynic in her smirked. "We're evaluating safe locations for you now."